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More Ivorian women smuggled into slavery and sexual abuse The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned that the number of women and girls being trafficked from Ivory Coast has been rising. Many of them reportedly suffer abuse, slavery and prostitution — both in North Africa and Europe. According to IOM, anti-trafficking workers report an increase in numbers of Ivorian females attempting to cross the Mediterranean, with many submitting desperate pleas for help when they reach landing points in Italy. The IOM said that it had recorded several hundred such cases on both sides of the Mediterranean in recent years. The report also specified that when female victims of smuggling managed to arrive in Italy they were often found to be pregnant as the result of rape or had neonates with them. Slavery, rape and prostitution Laurence Hart, IOM coordinator for the Mediterranean, told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that the trafficked Ivorian women and girls in...